This invention relates to a device for manufacturing braided openings in cuts of articles of clothing, comprising a folding mechanism, for the braid strip, mounted at a location spaced from the stitch forming area of a two-needle sewing machine equipped with a cutting knife working between the needles, with the folding of the braid strip being effected by means of an inverted T-bar which is adapted to be lowered into a folding cavity, and by means of folding slides which are mounted for moving oppositely thereto, so that the braid strip is folded about the T-bar, and further comprising a work clamp by which a cut of clothing and, if provided, a flap to be placed in contact with the folded braid strip, are received and fed to the switch forming area of the sewing machine.
In many of the devices for manufacturing braided openings, the cut, the braid strip and, if provided, a flap for the following sewing operation, can be placed in position and aligned only at the end of the current operation, which results in considerable losses of time. That is why an effort has been made to arrange the feeding, folding and sewing stations, as well as the work clamp, in a manner such as to permit an overlapped operation, i.e., to make it possible to perform the manipulation necessary for bringing the cut, the braid strip and the flap to be processed in the next operation into a standby position, during the sewing time of the current operation.
For this purpose, it has been proposed to dispose the cut feed station and the braid strip feed station at a distance from the sewing station corresponding to the length of a cut. The braid strip feed station is disposed above the cut feed station. In this arrangement, the braid strip can be delivered from the feed station into the sewing position and folded only after the fabric clamp, which is equipped with folding slides for the braid strip, is displaced, with the sewing operation finished, to the cut feed station and lowered onto the cut. The braid strip is transported from the feed station to the cut by means of a clamping mechanism which is displaceable in a plane inclined relative to the vertical and in which one border of the braid strip is clamped and released again as soon as, after the transportation, it is put in place on the top of the work clamp. For folding the braid strip, the strip is pushed, by one part of the two-part braid strip shaping bar provided in this case, into a folding cavity of the work clamp and pressed into contact with the cut, whereupon, the folding slides of the work clamp are moved toward each other to form the double return folds of the braid strip. It is only then that the displacement of the work clamp for performing the next sewing operation can be started.
In this device, for reaching the sewing station, the free space between the feed station and the sewing station must be traversed by the work clamp at a rapid rate. Then, for the sewing operation, the speed of displacement of the work clamp is reduced. It is clear that, for this purpose, a correspondingly designed drive and control equipment is necessary, and that the supporting structure of such an equipment requires an adequate space. In addition, with this device, it is practically impossible for the operator to watch the stitch forming area because the feed stations for the cut and the braid strip are relatively far from the sewing machine.
A device is also known for manufacturing braided pockets with a flap, comprising two work clamps which are disposed one after the other in the direction of displacement. The first work clamp forms a unit with a folding mechanism and is provided at a location which is spaced from the stitch forming area of the sewing machine. In this first work clamp, during the current time for processing one of the workpieces, the braid strip is folded to the shape of an inverted T, the flap is placed into contact with the braid strip by means of a particular flap feed mechanism, and the cut of an article of clothing is brought into an aligned standby position. For receiving the work parts thus assembled in the standby position, the second work clamp is adapted to be moved into the first one. For receiving the assembled work parts, the second work clamp is displaced in a direction opposite to the direction of displacement necessary for performing the sewing operation, beyond the distance of displacement necessary for the sewing, to a location in front of the needles. With this arrangement, the stitch forming area is almost completely screened so that observation of the sewing operation is hardly possible. The actual transfer of the assembled work is effected so that the second work clamp is lowered onto the work which is received in the first work clamp in a standby position whereupon, as usual in the transfer of parts, toothed downholders, provided on the second work clamp, have their teeth projected through tooth spaces or gaps of toothed braid strip downholders which are provided on the first work clamp and which, subsequently, along with the clamping plates of the first work clamp, are moved laterally away so as to enable the second work clamp to displace the assembled work toward the stitch forming area.